Ref Review Arsenal – Newcastle

Ref on the day was Lee Mason

Referee Mason surely got off with a bad start. Tiote deliberately putting his studs in the chest of Alexis and he completely ignored or missed it. If as some say he couldn’t see it, it was down to a technical error from the ref. Bad positioning it is called. Putting yourself in a position where you get the worst view of things.

He didn’t even call a foul. For those still saying that it was because he didn’t see it I suggest you have a look at a decision that we will talk about later on. Of course if you don’t see it, you cannot give it. Wait till we dissect the Newcastle goal. Bottom line however is that the ref or the assistant or the 4th referee seemed to see what Tiote was doing. It was dangerous and using excessive force and he should have been send off with a red card.

The next talking point was the disallowed goal from Welbeck. I didn’t see any contact that warranted a foul. What would have happened if Welbeck had gone down? What if the two players were reversed? The ref surely wouldn’t have pointed to the penalty spot. Rightfully so. There was no foul and this was the ref trying to prevent an early knock out by Arsenal.

Newcastle called for a penalty for handball from Welbeck. Welbeck tries to head the ball after a free kick and misses it and the ball falls on his forearm that is in a low normal position. There is no movement towards the ball and this was a case of ball to arm. I would suggest that next time Welbeck keeps his eyes open a bit longer so that he wouldn’t miss the ball with his head.

Another miss was the foul on Alexis by Dummet. Alexis put himself between the ball and Dummet and the Newcastle defender barges in to the back of Alexis inside the penalty area. The assistant signals the foul and the ref puts the ball outside the penalty area. It was inside so should have been a penalty. And why on earth Dummet didn’t get a yellow card for stopping a promising attack is inexplicable to me.

So overall a not really great first half with a score 71% but when we put weight on the decisions it goes down to 62%. If we only look at the important decisions we get a score of 57%.

The second half was a breath of fresh air for most of the time. Arsenal quickly making the game safe and the ref having a rather easy game from then on.

But now we come to the Newcastle goal. And the little foul from Giroud on Colback. Yes Giroud made contact and impeded Colback who stopped running. So we gave the ref a good point for calling the foul. But as we pointed out with the not given foul and red card against Tiote that you can’t give fouls when you don’t see it….this time the ref was standing with his back to the foul and his eyes were aimed at the other direction. So he called a foul he couldn’t possible see. Again a result of not being mobile enough and bad positioning.

The last item we can report is the not given card again against Dummet when he fouled Welbeck shortly before the match was over. The penalty was given but at least a yellow card should have been given and this should have been his second one.

But all in all an amazingly good second half from ref Mason with a score of 92% and when we put weight on it a score of 88%. Top class! And if we look at the important decisions we get a score of 80%. Still one of the best scores of the season in a half.

The overall score was just under 83% and that is how it should be at least. If we put weight on it we fall back to a score of 76%. This is what we consider as having a good match for PGMO referees these days. And if we only look at the important decisions he gets a score of 70%. This is an acceptable score for a PGMO ref. But it is a score that hides a few things because of having 5 correct goals cancels out the numerous wrong penalty and red card decisions.

So the score itself is good but it still covers up too many important misses.

The bias numbers. 8 wrong decisions in total. Of which 6 important decisions. And all against Arsenal.

Business as usual one could say. But we have seen worse this season and more influential on the final score. This time his decisions only held back the final outcome of the match and it took Arsenal a bit longer to make a big enough gap between the two teams to make it a comfortable win.

24 comments to Ref Review Arsenal – Newcastle

I’ve often wondered what the duties are for the fourth official…..other than listen impassively to the moans of the respective managers.
Are you saying that had he seen the foul on Alexis by Tiote, he could have advised the referee to stop play and award a free kick and possibly a card?

Think this ref did all he could to keep Newcastle in the game, but it just ran away from them so he gave up on them.
See Graham Poll absolutely slating recent ref performances in both his Daily Mail column, and on Talksport, he also suggested Mike Riley is not doing enough and should be sacked. Sadly Riley probably is doing enough for the vested interests that pull his strings but not the game as a whole. And if he does get sacked, another manc ref will take his place. Unless they make cahill head of the pgmol or whatever it is called now.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2894251/Refereeing-worst-level-remember-GRAHAM-POLL.html

So not only is Cahill escaping punishment, so is Mourinho (for his comments). Its beyond a joke now. In a way when things like this happen, it may actually be beneficial in the long run. The more and more ridiculous decisions that go certain clubs way will hopefully show the less observant people that there is something seriously wrong going on here. I notice that none of the reports say anything about the stamp on Kanes leg, directly after Cahill kicked him in the back.

Sadly, the game is run by the media, especially the likes of sky, and it suits them and their brand to have the likes of Chelsea, City and unfortunately Utd up their battling it out, so their players and managers stand more chance of being left alone in terms of punishment than others.
Cahill just follows a long line of English players at clubs who have become untouchable, shearer, Gerrard, Rooney and in terms of getting away with diving, Owen. Shame our own Englishmen don’t get a fraction of the same treatment as the aforementioned, but our club do not throw themselves into the media agendas or systems in place to maintain their desired status quo. Never have and never will

And thats one of the many reasons why i love Arsenal! If i was a Chelsea fan i would absolutely fucking ashamed of some of the dirty tactics they pull, but instead they all look up to Mourinho as if theyre a teenageer whos just fell in love for the first time. He cant put a foot wrong by the looks of it.

So alongside Graham Poll Ian Ridley has also questioned the competency of Grand Master Riley: not exactly a strange concept for many who saw strong evidence of his “game management” technique in ’05, and since then.

By anyone’s imagination, we have the worst crop of referees for many years. OK, maybe some of the ex-refs having their two-penneth input, is part of their own ambitions, but it is a long line of experience – Poll, Winter, Hackett and Halsey. In Taylor we have the worst referee ever – biased and oblivious to the rules (followed swiftly by Mason, Probert, Jones, Atkinson, Oliver.) Do they have to look like weakling Riley to get the best gigs? How come such rubbish get elevated to the FIFA list? Arsenal fans have put up with this rubbish for way too long, but now other big-mouths are spouting forth, the ref issues are getting media coverage. I just don’t know why we have kept so silent about appalling decisions – many endangering players safety (Cahill for the umpteenth time, Tiote, Adam). I fear that should Riley go, it will only be Webb, maintaining the manure link. Isn’t it wonderful how creative refereeing can boost a crap team back to some success. This is why Chelski are losing some of the big calls now, MU are back in the mix. The media can slather away again.

How come they get elevated to the FIFA list…..indeed.Unfortunately, as in all walks of life, especially where there is power and money to be gained, there are systems in place, a series of unwritten codes and rules. This is not going into the realms of conspiracy theories, just how the world works. Those who accept, bow down to and proliferate these systems are rewarded, those who stand against, well their lives are made very difficult, at best.
Football in this country has traditionally been associated as the sport of the northern and to a lesser extent, midlands industrial towns and cities. A bit of an anachronism, but there still is a north south thing going on , witness the media, and the appointment of refs from certain areas. For a Southern team to break this northern stranglehold, you have to be very rich, as the Chelsea owner quickly realised, or very talented….eg Wenger, Chapman, Spurs 1961 or preferably both.
The refs are just to the foot soldiers of all this and appointed accordingly. That’s why a proud Yorkshireman and Rotherham supporter like Webb can become a slave to a team from what is considered enemy territory to those from Yorks. And Riley is supposed to support Leeds, so they say, allegedly, they hate the Mancs….but not Riley!
So to get elevated to a FIFA list, talent not needed, just pragmatism, as well as brown nosing and an acceptance of good old fashioned corruption.
And before you accuse me of an anti northern bias, my family are originally from the north east.

@ Mandy
Not me, ever! I am originally from the East Coast, but lived most of my life in the south east or abroad. Now we are Red Members at the mercy of the ticket exchange. I always like your postings, mainly because I wish I’d written them! Patronage and partiality in the Riley empire – it is disgusting, but it suits the greater powerbase and of course, our obnoxious media (written & Tv.) Just at the moment I can’t see how the NW love-in is going to abate.

@Mandy
I heard Poll on Talksport and it was good to hear him well and truly berating Riley and some of the refs. Unfortunately he said the number of refs, sixteen, was quite sufficient, no mention of the geographical spread (or lack of it I should say) and absolutely no mention of the remotest possibility of any bias either for certain clubs or against others. Still its a start.
Regarding the Cahill stamp on Kanes shin, cast your mind back to Song stepping on Bartons leg which resulted in a three (or was it four) game ban retrospectively applied. As said already amazing that there is no mention of it anywhere, maybe the media think Cahill lost his balance as a result of the kick out on Kane and so it was accidental. In stark contrast with the media coverage of Jack caressing Fellainis chest with his forehead. Digging out Jack at every opportunity has become a national sport in its own right. Why are England regulars like Rooney, Cahill and Sterling given media and ref preferential treatment but not the Arsenal ones

Yes, did hear that Poll agree with the number of refs they employ…..can’t remember his maths to justify that comment but a strange one.
A shame the way Jack is treated, just wish he would respond by telling England to feck off, but he is a fiercely patriotic young man so I guess that will be unlikely
on another issue, Poldi, a class act, he will be missed by many

Walter,
While greatly appreciating your forensic examination of a referee’s performance, I have one small reservation over the methodology’s automatic “award” of a red card in certain circumstances. Namely, where a player – Dummett, in this particular review’s case – commits a deemed second yellow card offence, but never actually received a yellow card for his previous foul(s).

Your system does not make allowance for the fact that a player might (should, even, if a true professional) modify his/her behaviour, if he/she has already been booked. So, while I do not disagree with your marking for yet another incorrect yellow-card decision, I don’t necessarily think that, as a consequence, it should automatically be viewed as an incorrect red-card decision, too.

Barney, some offences are straight red card, and its irrelevent if the player is on a yellow or not. I do agree that many times, it is hard to say whether the red card is a straight red (what I am talking about), or is a second yellow. The only official place it ever ended up when I used to referee (many years ago in western Canada) was on the game sheet. And who publishes game sheets?

Kenneth Widmerpool – there are receivers used by plane spotters with variable frequency. I am sure one of those or similar would work.

However, it is often the case that each radio will broadcast on a different frequency & have a common scrambled frequency receiver. That ensures no disturbance from unwanted sources.

There should however, like in Rugby, be receivers available for a nominal fee for those that want to keep up with the officiating (might also help recruit officials God forbid).

The Cahill incident was shown on Star Sports in India but very little was made of it by the pundits. I would have asked for the Tower to be readied for a beheadding or perhaps for Charlie Adams to be sent to do his ‘special tackle’.